Posted
by
samzenpus
on Wednesday June 01, 2011 @08:21PM
from the your-help-is-appreciated dept.

inflamed writes "The Canadian government has announced a consultation period concerning its secretive plans to 'integrate' the US-Canada border systems. Last on the list of topics for consultation, but foremost in importance, is the issue of cybersecurity. With the deadline looming (June 3), it is important that informed individuals take note of this consultation and give their opinions."

Suggestion #1.: There is no "cyberspace". This is techno-market-babble. Did you look at the security of telephony over the past 75 years as demanding a need for Canada to "secure voice-space?" Of course not. The notion is absurd. Be sure that this cyberspace usage is like other tautological misdirection - designed to empty your wallet.

Now that you've considered our opinion on the matter, think to what other ends you could put this re-evaluation framework. What about examining the suspect logical underpinnings of a "War on Terror" or "Western Civilisation"? There no end to the money you could save by rejecting jingoisms of foreign-origin - and again have Canada serve the actual interests of real Canadians.

So Canada is going radiate and grope, then of course the integration of Canada and the US is inevitable. You just have to consider the cyclic ice ages which have occurred over the last couple of million years, basically Canada gets buried underneath a pretty thick ice sheet year round. So it's just a matter of time before the southern states of the US get a whole bunch of northern migrants.

It would seem that if Canadians want to protect their rights and public services they need to become more involved i

Since then, officials from the two countries have been working behind the scenes on the details. The purpose of the negotiations is to establish an "action plan" on border security aimed at tightening protection against terrorists and easing the flow of cross-border traffic.

Last time I checked, our northern brethren aren't the ones causing the problems. Oh and if you're really interested in some BS, look a how the ATF encouraged [lvrj.com] fire-arms sales to the drug cartels. And how Mexico is basically New Afghanistan, with all sorts of fun brewing there. We're so worried about airport security, when behind our backs the terrorist cells are clamoring to proverbially hop the fence--they know the Fed isn't guarding it. Or maybe I'm just wrong and being a racist.

As much as I hate to admit it, there's a fair number of "terrorists" who get in to Canada because we're not using the US's "watch list," and they then hop the border from us to the US. The problem is, the US's list isn't actually based on evidence, so much as profiling, and I don't think I'm terribly comfortable with closing the borders to someone just because a group of fear-mongers in the US picked a fairly arbitrary list.

I believe there is merit to that sentiment, but it would definitely be interesting to know the crime statistics comparing percentage of crimes committed by Canadian migrants vs total Canadian migrants, vs the likewise stats for Mexico. Our NICS/NLETs/NCIC system here isn't the greatest, but it does catch bad guys and is better than no information sharing. What is scarier here is DHS forming their own pseudo-army that is subject to fewer scrutiny than regular troops. As someone here stated before, DHS needs

%^@% Harper government. All of the worst ideas Canada has implemented over the past decade have all been second-hand from the USA. Yes, I want the government to give our sovereignty away, grope or radioactively strip-search it's citizens without the slightest hint of cause, and the ability to confiscate all electronics for indefinite periods for those who have the audacity to see the outside world.%^@% Harper government.

Seriously, this is a good time to get the western users over to IPv6. From there, it is easier to secure a system since most will have their own IP address. THat does not mean that it is secured, just easier than dealing with NAT.

Switch to IPv6, run official government firewalls with address translation that block known hostile addresses. Auto block all external emails containing canadian internet addresses as return address (spoofing). Keep all critical infrastructure on private networks with no internet connection (or read only to allow reports to be emailed).

I read border and cyber security, but it all looks like blah-blah-DMCA-blah-blah-Patriot Act-blah blah. This is a smoke screen. There's no Canadian/US boarder problem. There's only a CMPDA/MPAA & CRIA/RIAA [digital-copyright.ca] problem. Oh yeah, and we gotta git d'em turrists with a stronger North American wide Patriot Act!